Die letzten fünf Sonaten von Beethoven ... op. 101
The Last Five Sonatas of Beethoven ... Op. 101
Documents associated with this entity:
The fourth volume of Schenker's "Erläuterungsausgabe," published in 1921 and comprising Beethoven's Piano Sonata in A major, Op. 101 in his edition based on Beethoven's autograph manuscript, which was at that time in the possession of the music antiquarian dealer Louis Koch and is now in the Beethovenhaus, Bonn, his "Vorwort" (Foreword), "Vorbemerkung zur Einführung" (Preliminary Remark to the Introduction), "Einführung" (Introduction—Schenker also informally called this section "Analyse"), and "Literatur" (Secondary Literature). It is published by Universal Edition, Vienna.
Schenker spoke of the fourth and fifth planned volumes of the Erläuterungsausgabe as "the last two colossuses, Opp. 101 and 106," explaining that he had left them until last "because of both their size and their internal difficulties" (WSLB 200, February 19, 1914). In the event, he completed Op. 101 but not Op. 106. Wartime conditions having delayed both its completion and the publication, Op. 101 reflects significant developments in Schenker's thought, in particular in the introduction of the term "Urlinie" in its original sense of voice-leading reduction.
Schenker worked long and hard on the Foreword to this volume as giving voice to his political feelings. Ultimately, the Foreword (not reproduced in the New Edition) was short, and the major thrust was transferred to the first issue of Der Tonwille and the Foreword to Counterpoint 2:
Foreword
Five years have passed since the appearance of Op. 111 in the Elucidatory Edition. Why the edition of Op. 101 had to suffer so significant a delay is not difficult to guess.
The present publication comes at the most severe of times, which not only Germany but the whole of mankind had to endure. In this world, brought to misfortune by an incompetent western democratic movement, the ozone of a spiritual prince, of an aristocrat, of a true German genius must arise – refreshed by this ozone, a new generation of Germans must defy the pernicious onslaught of the west.
Let no one expect to gain access to Beethoven if he does not understand the meaning of "German" in the special and narrowest sense, and "genius" in the highest meaning of the word.
Vienna, August 30, 1920 Heinrich Schenker
Publication History
First Edition
The original edition was published in 1921, with publication number UE 3974.
Cover title-page: BEETHOVEN-SCHENKER | ERLÄUTERUNGS-AUSGABE | DER LETZTEN FÜNF SONATEN | SONATE A DUR | OP. 110.
Inner title-page: DIE LETZTEN | FÜNF SONATEN | VON | BEETHOVEN | — | KRITISCHE AUSGABE | MIT EINFÜHRUNG | UND ERLÄUTERUNG | VON | HEINRICH SCHENKER | — | PIANO SOLO
Chronology: Schenker's Foreword is dated August 30, 1920. He had submitted the musical text of the work in late July or early August 1920 (OC 52/449), and the textual material on October 25, 1920 (OC 52/450). Schenker stipulated that this work should appear before the first issue of Der Tonwille because it presented his new graphic device of the Urlinie (diary, OJ 3/2, p. 2292). The edition went to press on May 29, 1921, and 497 copies were delivered from the printer to the publisher on August 9, 1921.
Second Edition
Chronology: This edition went to press on February 27, 1928, and 496 copies were delivered from the printer to the publisher on March 31, 1928.
New Edition
Edited by Oswald Jonas, and published in 1972, with publication number UE 26.301, this excises Schenker's polemical matter and commentary on the secondary literature, and replaces Schenker's edition with the 1945 revision by Erwin Ratz, with the effect that the scores contradict some of the textual argument in Schenker's elucidations.
Cover title-page: Beethoven | Die letzten Sonaten | SONATE A DUR OP. 101 | Erläuterungsausgabe | von HEINRICH SCHENKER
Inner title-page: Beethoven | Die letzten Sonaten | SONATE A DUR OP. 101 | Kritische Einführung und Erläuterung von | HEINRICH SCHENKER | herausgegeben von | Oswald Jonas
English Translation and Study
The recent English translation by John Rothgeb is likewise in four separate, small-format volumes and a website, of which this volume is:
Piano Sonata in A major, Op. 101, Beethoven's Last Piano Sonatas: An Edition with Elucidation, vol. IV, transl., ed. and annotated by John Rothgeb (New York: Oxford University Press, 2015)
This edition follows the text of Schenker's original, thereby restoring all the material excised by Jonas in his 1972 edition. Explanatory and citational footnotes by Rothgeb incorporate some of the observations made by Jonas. Schenker's surveys of the secondary literature appear not in the print volumes but on the website. The score of the sonata appears neither in the print volume nor on the website.
Source:
- Universal Edition Archive: Verlagsdruckbuch UE 3974
Contributor:
- Ian Bent and William Drabkin